Saturday, July 16, 2016

From Alberta-A vote on same sex marriage by the General Synod of the Anglican Church is just the start of a long process that will take years, says St. Barnabas Church in Medicine Hat.

The count at first indicated a rejection of the same sex marriage motion by one vote. An error was then discovered after delegates asked for a copy of the electronic voting records. The vote was then declared in favour of same-sex marriage.

“This actually does not change anything,” said Rev. Oz Lorentzen who came to St. Barnabas Church in May this year.

It is a “parliamentary process” and the General Synod voted on only the first reading of a proposed amendment, said Lorentzen.

One miscounted vote reversed the Anglican Church of Canada’s rejection of same-sex marriage, July 12.So how did the error occur?Incorrect information sent to Data-on-the Spot, the electronic voting services provider contracted to manage the voting by clickers, led to the mistake, according to Archdeacon Michael Thompson, general secretary.The vote to change the marriage canon (church law) to allow the solemnization of same-sex marriages required a two-thirds majority in each of the Orders of Laity, Clergy and Bishops, but the original count of the vote on the night of July 11 showed the motion had failed to pass by one vote in the Order of Clergy.The error, according to Thompson, originated with an Excel spreadsheet compiled by his office, which listed him and General Synod Chancellor David Jones as being non-voting members of General Synod. The spreadsheet had listed Thompson as “clergy, non-voting.” According to the Constitution of General Synod, both the general secretary and the chancellor have full voting privileges.

From Western North Carolina-A church building that has been used to serve the Bouchelle Street community in Morganton for decades needs a new servant-minded occupant.St. Stephens’ Episcopal Church currently sits vacant in its spot where members congregated from 1949 to 2014. In 2014, the church combined congregations with St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, located on St. Mary’s Church Road, and became known as St. Mary’s and St. Stephens’ Episcopal Church, according to the church rector, the Rev. Jim Dahlin. The combined congregation now meets at the St. Mary’s facility.Church members do not want to sell the St. Stephens’ building, but are looking for another church, ministry or nonprofit organization to partner with them in using the building as a base to make a positive impact in the immediate community, said church member Allen Fullwood.

One sits in the high desert surrounded by mountains and the other is a sprawling blue-collar city, but the Rev. Canon Daniel Gutierrez says the similarities between his native Albuquerque, N.M., and Philadelphia are greater than the differences.

Gutierrez, 51, said the problems his parishioners faced in the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, based in Albuquerque, are universal - problems he will also face after he is ordained Saturday as bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania at New Covenant Church in Germantown. The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m.

"I've fallen in love with Philadelphia and the Diocese of Pennsylvania in a relatively short time. When a child is crying and suffering in pain, it's up to the church to reach out and touch them," Gutierrez said Friday afternoon at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral in University City. "There is so much hope and potential here."

From Mississippi-The Rt. Rev. Duncan Montgomery Gray Jr., a civil-rights advocate and retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, died Friday. He was 89.

Gray died at his home in Jackson after having been in hospice care, said one of his sons, Lloyd Gray of Meridian. He said a funeral will be at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral in Jackson, but plans were still pending.

As rector of St. Peter’s Church in Oxford in the autumn of 1962, Gray called for calm as violence broke out in response to the court-ordered integration of the University of Mississippi in that city. Gray had been a chaplain on campus until 1961 and was known to students. According to Episcopal archives, Gray held onto the statue of a Confederate soldier near the main administrative building on campus and implored people not to riot.

Friday, July 15, 2016

From The Guardian-The Reverend Hubert Brasier died in a car accident on a notoriously dangerous stretch of dual carriageway on the fast-moving A40 approach to Oxford. On his way to take evensong at the tiny Norman church of St Nicholas the Confessor, in the hamlet of Forest Hill, Mr Brasier edged his Morris Marina out of the slip road, not noticing the Range Rover speeding towards him. His daughter, Theresa, was 25 at the time. Mr Brasier had named her after a 16th-century Spanish nun who went on to become a great reformer of the Carmelite order. I wonder how long before cartoonists start depicting the new prime minister’s face superimposed on Bernini’s notorious sculptural depiction, The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa?

The parish of St Mary the Virgin in Wheatley (pictured), where Theresa May’s father was the vicar, is deep in the Anglican heartlands and a place of agreeably slow-moving traffic. A mile up the hill is the sleepy village of Cuddesdon, where generations of Anglican clergy have trained for the priesthood (me included) and which one former archbishop, Lord Runcie of Cuddesdon, has described as the nearest thing to heaven this side of death. But Mr Brasier trained at the distinctly high church college of Mirfield in Yorkshire. And, to many, that made him Father Brasier.

From The CBC-A passionate divide within the Anglican Church of Canada doesn't threaten its unity, officials say, after a dramatic vote first appeared to reject, but then approved, same-sex marriage earlier this week.

"As long as there's been a church there's been a controversy somewhere in it," Archdeacon Michael Thompson, general secretary for the church, told CBC News, citing as examples past debates about contraception and the ability of divorced people to remarry.

It was actually Thompson's vote in favour of the resolution to allow same-sex marriage that was miscounted in error, leading to an emotional roller-coaster of elation and despair for church members on both sides of the debate. The church appeared to have rejected same-sex marriage after the mistake on Monday night, but a recount led to the reversal that supported the same-sex marriage resolution.

The California Supreme Court on July 13 “declined to review” a decision made in April by a state appellate court putting an end to eight years of litigation and awarding 28 properties worth an estimated $50 million to the continuing Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin.“Accordingly, the original judgment in favor of the Diocese and ordering the return of the properties and funds (approximately twenty-eight properties, including ECCO and the Cathedral, and various Diocesan funds) stands,” said Michael Glass, diocesan chancellor, in a July 14 statement to the diocese.“It is my belief that the leadership of the Anglican Diocese intends to work with the Diocese to provide for an orderly, thoughtful, and pastoral transition of the properties,” he added.

Old news from The New York Times-Edmond L. Browning, who as the presiding bishop in the United States welcomed women into the hierarchy of the Episcopal Church, supported a role for gay and lesbian congregants, and lobbied aggressively for civil rights and against the nuclear arms race, died on Monday at his home in Dee, Ore. He was 87.

His death was announced by the Episcopal Church.

When he was elected in 1985 to lead the 2.8-million-member Christian denomination, which broke from the Church of England after the American Revolution, he immediately set the tone for his 12-year tenure by declaring, “I want to be very clear: This church of ours is open to all — there will be no outcasts — the convictions and hopes of all will be honored.”

The course of Anglican church history shifted this week, in part because an Ottawa layman seized on a tiny procedural moment to effect the change of a lifetime.

Ron Chaplin, 64, is an openly gay man who has fought for equal rights — including same-sex Christian marriage — for a good part of his adulthood.

He was part of a 10-person delegation from the Ottawa diocese that attended the church’s General Synod held in Richmond Hill, the meeting that ended with the bizarre miscount — then flip-flop — on a critically-important change in the Anglican canon.

If not for Chaplin’s attention to detail, the historic approval of same-sex marriage might have been lost.

“I was pretty happy with myself,” he said later, before laughing.

Chaplin used to be a parliamentary aide, so he has a grasp of rules and process, the guy in the crowd who reads the fine print.

But when regional denomination leaders meet Saturday, they will face the next worst thing: the demands of two dissident congregations to split from the Presbyterian Church‑USA to join the newer, more conservative ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.If the Presbytery of New Covenant, governing body for 95 Southeast Texas congregations, votes to "dismiss," Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church and Missouri City's Southminster Presbyterian Church will become the 11th and 12th area churches to leave the denomination in recent years.

From Arizona-An Arizona church that found itself dropped in the center of all the “Pokemon Go” hubbub is welcoming players with open arms and Wi-Fi.

Father Tim True, the rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Yuma, had no idea about the craze until he talked to his teenage daughter about it.

“She started to explain the game to me,” he said. “She said that she was going outside and having a lot of fun with it. I thought, ‘Well. that’s interesting.’

“I thought ‘OK, some other game on her device. OK, that was fun.’ I wasn’t paying much attention to it.”

But True started to pay attention after he found out the church was a Pokestop, which is an essential place for players to stop and recharge to continue the game. He said, rather than get surly about being selected, he decided to have fun with it and embrace the players.
More here-

Never mind that it took a confusing and embarrassing recount to get to the final result. That will be quickly forgotten. This week’s decision by the Anglican Church of Canada to allow same-sex marriage is an important step toward making sure LGBT people feel accepted in all parts of society.

Those who are involved in the church — the third largest in the country, with more than half a million people in some 2,800 congregations — will certainly feel more welcome. Even more important is the message the decision sends to the wider world — that gay people are to be fully included in one of the most sacred sacraments of the Christian community. That will resonate far beyond the church itself.

From Louisiana-Members of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church’s Prayer Shawl ministry recently delivered the first set of handmade fleece shawls to members of the Baton Rouge Police Department.

As part of the Fleece for the Police program, officers will carry the shawls in their vehicle trunks and distribute to anyone in need.

According to church member Becky Williams, the ministry is part of a larger effort that was started in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut in 1998 by Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo, two graduates of the 1997 Women’s Leadership Institute at The Hartford Seminary, and it grew from there.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

OK, it’s not just Episcopalians who say this one; it has gained a life of its own in several quarters. And the trope (most familiar as a social-media meme) has several variations. The default variant seems to be “Things Jesus Never Said.” It even has its own Twitter account. Under #JesusNeverSaid (or @ThingsJesusNeverSaid) is a characterization of a recognizable but disastrously errant — laughably errant — vision of the Christian religion.

To judge from the proliferation of variants, there is a lot of laughable (or is it contemptible?) Christianity out there. Catholic memesters remind us that #JesusNeverSaid, “He who eats this symbol of my flesh and drinks this symbol of my blood shall have eternal life. For my flesh is symbolic food, and my blood is symbolic drink” (silly Protestants).

From Christian Today-The Archbishop of Canterbury has urged the Church of England to "go in confidence" after the conclusion of its "shared conversations" on human sexuality.

The conversations, which took place during the last two years, came to a conclusion at the General Synod meeting in York, with small groups meeting in private and synod members urged to stay off social media.

A handful of conservative evangelicals opposed to any compromise with homosexuality boycotted the talks. Most evangelicals and many on the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church remain resolutely opposed to accepting the validity of same-sex relationships. The issue has also come close to splitting the Anglican Communion, with conservative Churches particularly in Africa seeing it as a test of biblical orthodoxy. The Episcopal Church in the US remains suspended from the Communion because of its backing for same-sex marriage.

Thousands of people in Juba have fled their homes and are seeking sanctuary in the city’s Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals and other places of worship as fierce gun battles rage around them.The general secretary of the South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC), the Rev. James Oyet Latansio, reports that many areas – including the SSCC compound – are effectively no-go areas. The area around the SSCC compound is “under control of the SPLA Government Forces,” he said.The SPLA is the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, and the current clashes are between the official South Sudanese army – the SPLA government forces – and opposition SPLA forces. The United Nations’ Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has condemned the violence between the two groups and called for calm.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

But on Tuesday, questions about the integrity of the voting process emerged — leading to a stunning reversal of the result, just hours after several bishops, including Toronto Archbishop Colin Johnson, declared they’d move ahead with same-sex marriages in their jurisdiction regardless of the vote.

Some members attending the General Synod on Monday stood up to say their votes had not been recorded during voting, when passage of the resolution failed by a single vote.

“That is an issue of concern,” said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Canadian church. “We cannot leave this synod with this kind of confusion.”

The primate had asked members not to applaud once the results were announced, and so silence greeted his declaration that Resolution A051-R2, on changing the marriage canon to allow same-sex marriages, had failed to get the two-thirds majority it needed in all three orders of General Synod.

Silent, too, were many of those the Anglican Journal approached for comments. One bishop said he wanted to address his diocese before commenting to the media. Another, Bishop Larry Robertson, of the diocese of the Yukon, suggested that commenting on the divisive issue would only rub salt into fresh wounds.

“It’s caused too much pain already,” he said.

Signs of this pain weren’t hard to see in the aftermath of the vote. Within minutes of its announcement, several members walked out of the conference room rather than take part in the Evensong that followed the vote. In the corridor outside, a female youth delegate collapsed, sobbing, on the floor. Several bystanders came to her aid. Other members headed toward their rooms with swollen eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

From Anglican Journal-Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is the spiritual leader of The Episcopal Church (TEC), a U.S.-based province of the Anglican Communion, which counts an active membership of 1.8 million.The first African-American to hold the position, Curry has been active in anti-racism and social justice work throughout his ministry, which began when he was ordained a priest in 1978 and continued with his consecration as bishop of North Carolina in 2000.

Elected presiding bishop in 2015, Curry was installed in the months following the church’s ground-breaking decision to allow same-sex marriage, and it fell to him to navigate the fallout of that decision at the meeting of the primates of the Anglican Communion in January 2016.

A passionate and charismatic orator, since his installation Curry has frequently challenged the church to see itself not as an institution, but as the “Jesus Movement.”

Robert P. Jones seems to be making a bold claim in his new book, The End of White Christian America. According to the publisher, the book addresses “a new reality—America is no longer a majority white Christian nation.”

If that doesn’t seem right, it’s because it isn’t.

Jones isn’t writing about “Christian” in the normal meaning of the term. This isn’t an America of Catholic or Orthodox Christians. As Jones states clearly between the covers, “I use the term White Christian America to describe the domain of Protestants in America” (emphasis in original).

The book would be better titled,The End of White Christian Protestant America

(Actually, since “white” is really short for “non-Hispanic white” it should be The End of Non-Hispanic White Christian Protestant America, but I digress).

From Toronto-The Anglican Church of Canada narrowly voted against authorizing same-sex marriages Monday after nearly a week of passionate debates about blessing such unions at the church's triennial conference.

More than 200 delegates attending the six-day General Synod 2016 north of Toronto narrowly rejected the resolution after more than 60 speakers made their points, with most speaking in support of the resolution.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Canada since 2005, and Monday's vote puts the Anglican Church — the third largest in Canada — out of step with most Canadians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who recently took part in a gay pride parade in Toronto.

In order for the resolution to have passed, it required two-thirds support from each of three orders — the lay, clergy and bishops.

The bishops voted 68.42 percent in favor of the resolution, and the lay delegates voted 72.22 percent in favor. However, the clergy voted 66.23 percent, just missing the percentage needed by a single vote.

Monday, July 11, 2016

THE Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, the Most Revd Michael Curry, has spoken of a “time of great pain and turmoil for us as a country” after the recent shooting incidents in America.

Bishop Curry was responding to the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, who were shot and killed by police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and St Paul, Minnesota, and the subsequent attack on police officers in Dallas, Texas, which resulted in the deaths of five police officers and the injuring of seven others.

The shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota sparked protests around the country — including in Dallas, where the police officers were attacked. The protesters, under the banner “Black Lives Matter”, say that black people are more likely than white people to be shot and killed by police officers.

From ENS-Bishop Edmond Lee Browning, the 24th presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, died on July 11, 2016. He was 87 years old and was living in Oregon.Browning served as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1986-1997. Browning’s election as presiding bishop in 1986 was seen as a reflection of the church’s broadening diversity due to his extensive international and multicultural experience.Browning hoped to encourage a growing awareness of diversity in the church. He was well-known for his quote, “no outcasts in the church.”“The Episcopal Church is faithfully seeking to truly become, ‘a house of prayer for all people,’ as Jesus said quoting the Hebrew prophets, and that is greatly the case because Presiding Bishop Browning taught us that the church must be a place where there are no outcasts,” said Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry, the 27th presiding bishop. “That enduring legacy is still helping to set many a captive free. It is evidence that God is not finished with us yet, for every once and a while spiritual giants still walk among us as living reminders. And one of those reminders was Edmond Lee Browning, 24th presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church. Well done good and faithful servant. May you rest in peace and rise in glory.”

The Anglican church leader known as the "Vicar of Baghdad" is being suspected of buying back sex slaves to free them from ISIS.

The Rev. Andrew White has been suspended from the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, where he sits as president, pending investigation of the case.The charity is also being investigated by the Charity Commission, according to Anglican News. The inquiry into FRRME was opened on June 9.

The organization refused to comment on the issue while the inquiry is ongoing.

From The Wall Street Journal-Conservative and liberal prelates in the Catholic Church have put forth sharply different readings of Pope Francis’ teaching on divorce—a situation complicated by the pontiff’s own ambiguity.

In April, Pope Francis published “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”), which responded to a turbulent meeting of bishops on family issues by urging a more lenient approach to divorced Catholics, in effect encouraging priests to grant some of those who remarry Holy Communion.

Instead of settling the issue, the pope has opened the door to divergent interpretations as local bishops implement the document. Conservatives argue that nothing has changed while liberals see more flexibility—with broader implications for teachings on sexual morality.

Once a sign of their faith, 48 sword guards that were likely used by Christians during the feudal era are being shown at the Sawada Miki Kinenkan museum here.

Since being put on display in May, they have been drawing a steady stream of visitors from all over Japan.

The sword ornaments are drawing attention to the museum, famed for its artifacts believed to have been used by crypto-Christians, who were forced to practice their faith in secrecy after anti-Christian policies were adopted.

The museum houses a collection of crypto-Christian art, crafts and other related artifacts acquired by Miki Sawada (1901-1980), the founder of the Elizabeth Saunders Home orphanage in Oiso. The museum is built in a corner of the premises of the orphanage.

From The Telegraph-When the Church of England Synod meets in high summer, its thoughts inexorably turn to love - or rather, to same-sex relationships: the perennial pachyderm in the Anglican room.

As members gathered on Sunday to discuss the intractable topic, the minds of some may have drifted longingly towards the hearty thwack and ping of the Murray/Raonic final. Alert to wandering attention, David Porter, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s former director of reconciliation, urged his colleagues to “prepare yourself for Wimbledon withdrawal”.

Reconciling the schism between sport, sex and spirituality was the least of the participants’ challenges. Their attendance was regulated in advance with a dense thicket of protocol.

Members were asked to eschew social media, abandon clerical dress for “casual, comfortable clothes”, and “Remember your body language. Watch that it doesn’t say, “I’m bored’.”

The Rev. Jered Weber-Johnson, an Episcopal priest and rector at St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in St. Paul, says Castile's death was personal for many in his congregation. Some members or their children knew Castile. Weber-Johnson says Castile's death brought issues of race, injustice and policing to the front door of a mostly white community that often ignores them.

"The kindest and nicest of Minnesotans may have empathy," he says, "but they don't get involved because it didn't happen in our backyard. Unfortunately, it took coming to our backyard for so many to get angry."

Weber-Johnson and other ministers pledged to talk about the good Samaritan this Sunday. In the parable, Jesus tells the story of a Samaritan who helps a man who's been beaten and robbed. It's a story about loving one's neighbor, and even one's enemies. The Dr. Rev. Brian Herron, pastor at Zion Baptist Church in Minneapolis, says it's an apt message during today's troubling times.More here-

From Business Day-ARCHBISHOP Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s voice will always be the voice of the voiceless‚ the congregation heard during a special thanksgiving service‚ celebrating his four decades of episcopal ministry‚ on Sunday.

The service‚ held at St Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg‚ presided over by his close friend‚ Reverend Barney Pityana‚ saw a joyful Archbishop Tutu moving and singing during songs of worship and praise.

"I can barely put it better‚ I think‚ than the late President Nelson Mandela did when he paid tribute to Archbishop Desmond — sometimes strident‚ he said‚ often tender‚ never afraid and seldom without humour.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

From The Anglican Journal-When Archbishop Josiah Atkins Idowu-Fearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, addressed General Synod on July 9, he thanked the Anglican Church of Canada for its many contributions to the Communion. He did not indicate how Monday, July 11's vote on whether to allow the solemnization of same-sex marriages would affect Canada’s place in the global Anglican body.

But Idowu-Fearon did note its repercussions for some provinces of the Communion.

Although he praised the “typically Canadian and commendably transparent process” that led General Synod to the marriage canon vote, he said that the conclusions this process led to—that same-sex marriage was theologically possible—“would be difficult to receive” for other parts of the Communion.

In his comments on the vote itself, he expressed concern over how either a “yes” or a “no” would be understood by the wider church.

From Christian Today-A small group of conservative Anglicans will boycott the Church of England's private talks on sexuality in a reflection of intense divides within its governing General Synod.

Three days of secret conversations begin on Sunday until Tuesday in an effort to reconcile warring factions within synod on gay relationships. But a handful will refuse to take part because they say to do so would be to admit that different positions within the Church were possible.

Christian Today understands the number boycotting the talks will be about 10, out of nearly 500.